Russia's Military Tells A Very Different Story About What Happened To MH17

Russia is taking a different line than most of the world
regarding the Malaysian passenger plane shot down Thursday.

Ukraine and the West have presented a mountain
of evidence indicating that pro-Russian separatists shot
down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 with a Russian-supplied Buk
missile system.

In a statement on Monday, Russia's Ministry of Defense began
laying the case for blame on the West.

It claims it saw MH17 detour from its route at the same time a
Ukrainian warplane flew overhead and a U.S. satellite flew over
Ukraine. And it said Ukraine had four SA-11 Buk missile systems
on the ground in separatist territory.

The ministry claimed that Russia has not delivered any SA-11 BUK
missile systems to separatists in Ukraine "or any other weapons."

The U.S., on the other hand,
asserts that it has "detected an increasing amount of heavy
weaponry to separatist fighters crossing the border from Russia
into Ukraine," in addition to gathering "information
indicating that Russia is providing training to separatist
fighters at a facility in southwest Russia, and this effort
included training on air defense systems."

Russia's Defense Ministry also said the military has not detected
the launch of any missiles near MH17's flight path, and asked the
U.S. to share images "if they have them."

The Russians also demanded an explanation from Ukraine's
government, saying a Ukrainian warplane flew within two to three
miles of MH17. It somewhat pointed the finger at Kiev, saying
that Ukraine had surface-to-air missiles near
separatist-controlled areas at the time of the crash.

In a late-night statement issued Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin
urged other countries that have pointed the finger at Russia to
not "use the tragedy to pursue their own political goals." He
repeated his blame of Ukraine, saying the tragedy could have been
avoided if Ukraine's military had not increased the scope of
operations against pro-Russian separatists in late June.

The Russian military took accusations a bit further Monday,
hinting at some strange speculations. The spokesman asked: "Is
it a coincidence that the time of the MH17 crash is the same as a
U.S. satellite flew over Ukraine?"

Basically, Russia is suggesting that a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter
plane shot down MH17.

But, as The Interpreter
notes, a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet with no ordinance can
only fly as high as 23,000, while MH17 was cruising at about
33,000 feet.

"By this logic, even if the Su-25 was flying directly under
MH17 it would be at least 3 kilometers way," The Interpreter
notes. "How does that fit with the claims that the Russian
government is making?"

298 Dead

On July 17, Malaysia Flight MH17
went down in the town of Torez, located in
separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. All 298
people on board were killed.

Russia
immediately held Ukraine's government responsible, while
evidence mounted that Russian separatists mistook the
civilian passenger plane for a Ukrainian military aircraft.

The West has so far said that pro-Russian separatists are to
blame for both shooting down the plane and for subsequently
disrupting the international investigation. On Sunday, U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry went on all five Sunday-morning
talk shows and laid out the evidence in a prosecutorial style.

Kerry said Ukraine did not have a missile system in the vicinity
of the crash.

The U.S. State Department has pointed the finger at Moscow for
weeks for meddling in Ukraine,
citing a major flow of weapons from Russia to
southeastern Ukraine over the past month, including "150
vehicles with armed personnel carrier, multiple rocket launchers,
tanks, artillery."

"We also know to a certainty that the social media
immediately afterwards saw reports of separatists bragging about
knocking down a plane, and then the so-called defense minister,
self-appointed of the People’s Republic of Donetsk, Igor
Strelkov, posted a social media report bragging about the
shoot-down of a transport plane – at which point when it became
clear it was civilian, they pulled down that particular report,"
Kerry said.